Thousands are preparing for a colourful New Year's Eve on the New South Wales north coast, where the Tropical Fruits Festival will mark its 25th anniversary. But event organisers are also hoping a new pop-up site will make the crowd feel more comfortable about getting regularly tested for HIV.

This year the Tropical Fruits New Year's Eve Festival, held in Lismore, will host 3,500 members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex community.

Organisers hope regional Australia's first pop-up rapid HIV testing site will reduce one of the biggest stigmas among gay people.

Tropical Fruits chairman Ken Bilby hopes the service will make testing for HIV a normal part of life among fellow members of the gay community who have felt uncomfortable about going to their doctor in the past.

"I have a lot of close personal friends that are positive and I have a lot of friends who aren't," he said.

"Unfortunately HIV still has a stigma, it's not a disease where you die from, it's just a chronic illness nowadays. So part of having the pop up van is to reduce that stigma and hopefully do away with it."